Despite shelving her summer tour and recently parting with her manager, Kelly Clarkson keeps smiling while heading to West Hollywood eatery Koi on Wednesday. Still on track for the singer: her new album My December, which is due out June 26.
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Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson teamed up to tape the premiere episode of Country Music Television's CMT Crossroads at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The show—which airs on CMT June 24th—features duet versions of the new duo's biggest hits, including McEntire's "Why Haven't I Heard From You" and "Fancy" and Clarkson's "Because of You," and "Since You've Been Gone." A studio version of "Because of You" will be included on McEntire's duets album, to be released on Sept. 18.
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Kelly Clarkson dresses casual in an orange tee and jeans as she arrives at the airport in New York City on Thursday night.

The American Idol champ recently opened up to USA weekend in their July 13-15, 2007 issue.

On her boyfriend cheating on her last year: “My standards were low because I was lonely. I met this musician, not a famous musician–he doesn’t even deserved to be named–and I thought he was totally into me. And then you find out, oh God, that he had this whole other relationship on the side, and that he is only dating you to get into pictures and to become famous.”

On the stress of her second album and two bouts of pneumonia: “Everything caught up with me in a bad way. My body was wearing down, and my emotions were wearing down. I was trying to get over someone. I hadn’t seen my friends and family for a while, and it was becoming a nuisance [to see them] because I was so busy. I was traveling, and then there was more added to the schedule. It just got chaotic. I was 24, and that is pretty young to be the boss of so much. And it caught up with me. I couldn’t smile. I couldn’t do anything. I broke down. I cried so much I couldn’t speak. I was that tired. I was drained. I didn’t want to act, didn’t want to smile–I didn’t want to pretend. I just broke. …It was the lowest point of my life and my career.”

On having tried marijuana once: “It was in Amsterdam. It is legal there, and it is not legal here. I don’t ever do anything illegal here. I have never smoked anything in my life. I’ve never tried any drugs. I wouldn’t do anything that would cause holes in your brain or your nasal cavity. Call me Texan, but I don’t think of marijuana like that. I don’t understand people who drink too much. I think, ‘Why do you drink so much? It just adds calories.’”

On her weight issues: “I have never been to a point where I have been so unhappy that I have said to myself: ‘Oh God, you are fat!’ I don’t allow myself to go there. I know when I am unhappy with myself–and then I am like, ‘Wow, stop eating so many cookies [and her other favorites, cake and pumpkin pie] and get on the treadmill!”

“My standards were low because I was lonely,” she said. “I met this musician, not a famous musician–he doesn’t even deserved to be named–and I thought he was totally into me. And then you find out, oh God, that he had this whole other relationship on the side, and that he is only dating you to get into pictures and to become famous.”

Kelly had penned the song “Never Again” about Hodges on her latest album, My December.

Now Hodges is fighting back with his own song called “Just a Little Girl”, which according to his website us “a rebuttal to a single by a former idol currently on the radio.” (You can listen to it here.)

Hodges is best known for his work with the band Evanescence, which he left in 2002. He now fronts his own band, Trading Yesterday. Check out the lyrics to “Just a Little Girl” below.

DAVID HODGES - “JUST A LITTLE GIRL” LYRICS

You never cared to hear the other side
So why would you care to keep this thing alive
You paint me into a memory of all your pain
But i will not be drawn into the past again

[Chorus]

Cause all of this is all that I can take
And you could never understand the demons that I face
So go ahead and bat your eyes and lie right to the world
For in everything you are, you’re just a little girl

I never meant for you to feel this way
but Decembers were never meant to be our graves
It’s not a question of who was wrong and what is right
But time cannot heal what you will never recognize

(Chorus)

So go ahead and cry
Go ahead believe that you were right
To keep away the dark to help you sleep tonight